It is common practice to regulate access to events (or participation in transactions) to authorized individuals. In this regard, several systems have been implemented whereby proof of individual identity is utilized for determining authorization for said access. For certain events, proof of identity is the only requirement for access. Several current identification systems operate sufficiently to satisfy such requirement. For other events, however, access systems (and the selectivity associated therewith) will benefit from automated regulation on the further basis of prior event-related occurrences. While desirable, automated access systems are not known wherein regulated access based on the dual determination of both identity and prior event-related occurrences is achieved satisfactorily, i.e., without incurring problems seemingly inherent in such system. To illustrate such problems, reference may be made to one useful application of an access system, i.e., elections.
In conducting an election, a traditional method for regulating the access of voters to, for example, voting booths is to physically screen and intercept voters as they enter the voting arena. At that time, voting personnel will typically verify that each voter's name is on a master list of registered voters and that the voter has not already voted in that election. This manual verification and certification process is slow, potentially inaccurate, and not easily disposed to practical and efficient automation. Drawbacks--seemingly more pronounced in automated access systems, in general--are manifest. First, it will be appreciated that the security of an access system (automated or manual) based solely on identity verification is often easily circumvented. Second, despite advantage, the addition of a further determinative access parameter relating to the occurrence of prior events frustrates and complicates the design of a practical automated access system.
A desirable goal in the design of an automated access system would be to maximize access while minimizing opportunity for circumventing the system's access parameters. In this regard, for the several applications envisioned for the present system, access should be generally provided based on the principles that (1) an event or transaction should be attended only by an authorized individual; and (2) the event or transaction should be attended only for a predetermined number of occasions. Further, it should be recognized that (1) overlong screening processes generally increase the opportunity for circumvention, and accordingly, an access system should be sufficiently efficient to thereby promote expedient processing; and (2) telecommunication lines--and other means of sharing information across geographical distances--are either non-existent, limited, or poorly developed in those areas where the access system may be foreseeably implemented.